#845 It Will Be Like Squeezing Water From A Rock

When Israel went out from Egypt,

the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

2 Judah became his sanctuary,

Israel his dominion.

3 The sea looked and fled;

Jordan turned back.

4 The mountains skipped like rams,

the hills like lambs.

5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee?

O Jordan, that you turn back?

6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?

O hills, like lambs?

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,

the flint into a spring of water. Psalm 114 ESV

A Psalm or song of The Exodus.

When Israel went out from Egypt - This is a loaded line since there is much that leads up to their departure. They were a slave nation living among a people strange to them. There has been over 400 years passed since the time of Jacob. Their numbers are now greatly increased, which has caused them to be seen as a threat, and so the object of a holocaust, where their young were slaughtered to control their numbers. God has taken a man, who, in his youth, would have rallied support for a rebellion, but his own would not receive him. God's timing is always best, and for 40 years of time in the rural life Moses learned to be a shepherd, and the power of meekness was bestowed upon him. He returns for God's chosen people and works many signs and wonders before their captor. The man, who sees himself as god, is confronted by a shepherd and his brother. Egypt will learn that there is a God above Pharaohs, kingdoms and nature.

Exodus

Judah became his sanctuary - Some have seen the separation of Judah from Israel in this verse, which has become to them a measure for it's time. In their minds, it would place the writing after the separation of the northern tribes and Judah, which occurred during the reign of Solomon's son. I don't think that is the case here because they were referred to separately before that time. Judah leads the people out. It is the capital tribe, the tribe that Messiah will come from, where the ark will rest in Jerusalem and the temple will be built.

…9 Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. 11 He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.… Genesis 49: 9-11

The sea looked and fled - They are reminded of God making a way where there was none, and delivering them from their enemies by that same way. He parted the Red Sea, and later with Joshua, He parts the Jordan.

The mountains skipped like rams - This is a statement beyond my normal reference, poetic hyperbole perhaps describing an earthquake, maybe, but was it not God, Who brought these things into existence by His word? I think of mountains in such a fixed way, places on a map that I can visit at any time, driving the same road each time. Here, the mountains and the hills are animated by the presence of the Creator. 

- Nothing is immovable but God himself: the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but the covenant of his grace abideth fast for ever and ever. Even thus do mountains of sin and hills of trouble move when the Lord comes forth to lead his people to their eternal Canaan. Let us never fear, but rather let our faith say unto this mountain, "Be thou removed hence and cast into the sea, "and it shall be done. - C. H. Spurgeon

What ails you - When God appears, even the rocks cry out, the water parts, but when the one, who thought himself a god, comes to reclaim what God has redeemed, then he is drowned beneath the waves.

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob -

…27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.… Matthew 10: 27-29

Who turns the rock into a pool of water - 

- As for our spiritual necessities they are all met by the water and the blood which gushed of old from the riven rock, Christ Jesus: therefore let us extol the Lord our God. Our deliverance from under the yoke of sin is strikingly typified in the going up of Israel from Egypt, and so also was the victory of our Lord over the powers of death and hell. The Exodus should therefore be earnestly remembered by Christian hearts. Did not Moses on the mount of transfiguration speak to our Lord of "the exodus" which he should shortly accomplish at Jerusalem; and is it not written of the hosts above that they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and of the Lamb? Do we not ourselves expect another coming of the Lord, when before his face heaven and earth shall flee away and there shall be no more sea? We join then with the singers around the Passover table and make their Hallel ours, for we too have been led out of bondage and guided like a flock through a desert land, wherein the Lord supplies our wants with heavenly manna and water from the Rock of ages. Praise ye the Lord. - C. H. Spurgeon